Connie Maheswaran
Connie Maheswaran is a character in Steven Universe. She is Steven's best friend. She debuted in the episode "Bubble Buddies". Connie’s surname, Maheswaran, means “Lord of Universe”. Appearance Connie is a young girl with dark skin and waist-length dark brown puffy hair. She has a prominent nose, thick eyebrows, and wears a pair of magenta lens-less glasses (with rose-colored lenses until "An Indirect Kiss"). She is slightly taller than Steven. Connie is usually seen in a variety of different outfits and dresses. She usually wears light blue, green, and white clothing. In the season one intro, she is seen wearing a white and seafoam-green dress with her peach colored boots but with a sunhat and no socks. Her glasses also appear to have the lenses still intact. Currently, she has stopped wearing her glasses completely, and has stopped carrying her empty frames around. From the season two intro forwards, Connie is sporting her lensless frames, red sneakers (with visible socks), high-waisted shorts, and a white tank-top with a buttoned collar. She now carries Rose's sword over her shoulder, as well as her glow bracelet. She also carries a book under her arm (likely The Unfamiliar Familiar). Personality Connie is introverted, curious and intelligent. Due to her parents' lifestyle, specifically her father's, Connie rarely stays in one place for long and has been unable to form lasting friendships, which left her frequently feeling lonely. Her parents are very strict and don't allow her to participate in common childhood activities (such as eating donuts or anything with trans fats, although she ate one in Crack the Whip). This has led her to flat-out lie about Steven's non-nuclear family, due to paranoia at how they may react. Despite her obedience to her parents, Connie is not above exploiting loopholes, such as not buying snacks at a theater and instead bringing them from Steven's home. Connie has grown used to the strange dynamic of her friendship with Steven despite her initial uncertainty of it, as in "Marble Madness" when the Gems destroy one of Peridot's robonoids in front of her, she reacts passively awed and only comments that she loves hanging out at Steven's place. She can be a bit deadpan at times, such as when she jokes about cutting off Steven's hand in "Lion 2: The Movie" and in that same instance quickly understands that by poking/tickling Steven she could provoke a reaction from Rose's Secret Armory. Her hobbies appear to include tennis and reading, and she also plays the violin, as seen in "Fusion Cuisine" and "Nightmare Hospital". "Sworn to the Sword" shows a more confident and aggressive side to her personality as she learns how to use a sword. Due to Pearl's negative reinforcement, she also began to display a reckless side, but this was quickly put out by Steven. It also highlights her strong feelings for Steven through her dedication in becoming his knight. This boosted confidence is also shown in "Nightmare Hospital" when Connie stood up to her mother about her strict upbringing and rules, and also even revealed her involvement in magical affairs. "Beach City Drift" emphasizes her level headedness when she tells Steven she is "thinking mad" about Kevin, and when they de-fuse she is the one who convinces Steven that they have been obsessed with Kevin and to let go of their grudge. Gem Hunt highlights Connies confidence in while she respects and obeys Pearl, she pushes her to split up to hunt the gem monsters, and is the one who leads when she and Steven hunt the second monster through the forest. She is also revealed to have prepared for surviving in the wilderness by reading a book on wilderness survival. However, despite all her training and preparedness, Connie freezes during an encounter with the with one of the Gem monsters they were hunting. In the end, she choose to call Pearl via Steven's walkie-talkie, which Pearl commended her for after their subsequent encounter with Jasper who they found had been hunting the Gem monsters. Crack the Whip shows she is not afraid to barge into the beach house while shouting surprise, showing how comfortable she has gotten around Steven and the other Gems, telling Garnet and Pearl to stay safe. The episode also shows a lighter side to her when she, Steven and Amethyst have fun around Beach City even eating a donut despite it going against what she told Steven in Bubble Buddiesshowing a growing independent side to her. She also confides in Steven and Amethyst about her freezing during her first mission, causing Amethyst to tell her to stop over thinking things and to follow her instincts in battle. She apparently takes Amethyst's words to heart as she fares far better when she, Steven, Amethyst, and Lion encounter Jasper and the two Gem Monsters from "Gem Hunt" that she had tamed to take on the Crystal Gems. Together with Steven, she bravely confronts Jasper to prevent her from destroying Amethyst, fusing with Steven in mid-battle, allowing Stevonnie to save Amethyst and forcing Jasper and her remaining Gem Monster to retreat. After Amethyst regenerates, Connie tells her she was right about following her instincts. Abilities Skillset * Swordsmanship: As of "Sworn to the Sword", Connie has become skilled in the art of sword-fighting with Pearl as her mentor. She was able to work in partnership with Steven and his shield. She can attack swiftly with light attacks or with power in heavy attacks. * Tag-team combat: Due to the close bond they share, Steven can coordinate his shield techniques perfectly with Connie's swordplay, such as fighting back-to-back to defend and attack simultaneously or catapulting Connie from his shield for a powerful lunge attack. * Wide Intellect: Connie is shown to be very intelligent for her age, knowing a lot about boats, reading very hard books (she enjoys reading hard books like The Spirit Morph Saga and also enjoys reading non-fiction books for fact and to get smarter than she already is )having proficiency in tennis, violin playing, and sword fighting, having an extensive vocabulary, and even managing to find loopholes in her parents' many rules. In Gem Hunt, she is shown to be very prepared and intelligent when it comes to surviving in the wilderness, thanks to reading a book. * Survival Skills: Connie is shown to have very impressive survival skills, thanks to reading a book 20 times all about it. Thanks to her book, she has adapted these skills and because of this, she was perfectly able to locate a spot to hide from the Gem Monsters, and she was able to make a very healthy, vitamin C-rich tea out of pine needles. Weaponry Rose's Sword: In Nightmare Hospital, the sword is given to Connie by Steven because she is learning to sword-fight. She uses the sword to protect her mother and Steven from the Cluster Gems. In Gem Hunt she is seen comfortably carrying the sword on her back and drawing it over her shoulder. Interestingly enough, despite the sword's size, Connie is able to wield it with little effort. It is unknown if it is because of the sword's magical properties, or if Pearl's training helped Connie achieved a level of strength fit to use it. Fusions * When fused with Steven, they form Stevonnie. Relationships Steven Universe Steven first saw Connie about a year before the start of the series during a parade. He saw her drop her bracelet and decided to keep it in his freezer so he could return it the next time he saw her. She also remembered seeing him on his father's float, mentioning the soap bubbles in his hair. He becomes her first friend. Although Connie sometimes feels like her life is rather mundane compared to Steven's, they are currently good friends, and share a mutual crush on each other as seen in "An Indirect Kiss" and "Alone Together" (in the latter of which Steven and Connie accidentally fuse, forming Stevonnie). Connie is frequently shown to be affectionate to Steven, occasionally in a romantic way (e.g. "An Indirect Kiss" when she leaned for a kiss, and in "Steven's Birthday" when she rested her head on Steven's chest after their slow dance). Connie has demonstrated that she cares deeply for Steven, such as in "Full Disclosure" when she repeatedly called and visited him to make sure he was okay, even going as far as to say she wanted to "be a part of his universe", and since "Sworn to the Sword" Connie has shown interest in joining Steven in his adventures with the Gems, training with Pearl to defend him. To further prove this statement, in "Steven's Birthday", Connie mentions not caring what age it seemed like Steven was, and that she would want to hang out with him no matter what. She also panicked when she thought Steven reverted into a zygote (or Steven shrunk out of existence if you want to simplify it). "Beach City Drift" shows the strength of her partnership with Steven shown in their interactions and discussion over their feelings over Kevin and the ease with which they fuse into Stevonnie. Pearl Connie has not been shown to have any extended interaction with the Gems with the exception of Pearl, with whom she shares a mutually respectful mentor-student relationship since "Sworn to the Sword". This is where she also convinced Pearl to teach her sword fighting by appearing very passionate about staying by Steven's side to fight with him, which clearly struck a chord with Pearl to the point of tears, considering her own dedication to Rose Quartz. Gem Hunt expounds on their relationship, showing that Connnie views Pearl as a respected and beloved teacher who she seeks to impress through finding the Gem monster. Amethyst In "Crack the Whip", Amethyst is left in charge of Connie and Steven while Pearl and Garnet search for Jasper, as Pearl had forgotten that Connie would be coming by for training that day. Amethyst tells Connie and Steven that they have the day off, though Connie and Steven decide to have a sparring session on the beach and try to get Amethyst to watch them. Amethyst notices Connie focusing on her stance, and tells her to loosen up. When Connie confides in Amethyst and Steven about her freezing up during her first mission, Amethyst tells her to stop overthinking things and states that in a real battle that she should follow her instincts. Afterwards, Connie spends the rest of day having fun with Steven and Amethyst. Connie apparently takes Amethyst's advice to heart and during their later encounter with Jasper, Connie follows her instincts and fuses together with Steven to form Stevonnie, who manages to drive off Jasper. During the encounter with Jasper, Amethyst knowing how dangerous Jasper is, tells Connie and Steven to deal with one of Jasper's Gem monsters, while she deals with Jasper on her own. After she regenerates after she was "poofed" by Jasper, Amethyst is surprised to find that Stevonnie had managed to drive off Jasper and that Connie and Steven didn't need her help, causing her to question her usefulness, despite Connie's assertion that Amethyst's advice to follow her instincts allowed her to confront Jasper alongside Steven, which lead to their resulting fusion into Stevonnie over their shared desire to save Amethyst. Jasper Connie first encountered Jasper on her first mission in the Great North, and was left in awe of the Quartz gem's strength and combat prowess. As of "Crack the Whip", she appears to share the Crystal Gems' mutual dislike of Jasper and willingly fused with Steven in order to defeat her.